We were picked-up at our hotel at 7:30am for a 3.5hrs ride to Halong City... with of course a stop-over at some craft store. When we arrived at Halong City, our guide seemed concerned about which agency we booked our trip with. He was concerned, why, we got worried. Apparently, we paid half the price of what some people paid. The guide started giving out tickets to everyone but us. When we asked about our tickets, we were told to wait. He started taking the group to the boat so we panicked. We insisted that he wait with us 'cause we had the feeling that we would get left behind. It took some negotiation, with him not being happy about the situation but he waited with us anyway.
Finally, another guide arrived with 6 more people, and our tickets. This new guide told us that we would get picked up at 9am the next morning, my wife and I would be taken to another boat and we'd tour the bay. We got confused because we thought we'd be going for a trek to Catba Island the next day. So it seemed to us that they were trying to change the itinerary, possibly because we've paid less. We thought what would end up happening was, the group would go on a trek and we'd be the only ones getting kicked off. With all these misunderstandings, we just let the situation be, and not let it ruin our trip.
So we boarded the boat for an amazing lunch. It was definitely worth the 1.5hrs that we spent on the boat waiting for it. They served a big bowl of rice, fried shrimps, sweet and sour fish, some veggie and meat dish, and some fruits. Drinks of any kind are extra.
We
cruised on the bay for about an hour to the
Surprising Cave. After the cave came an hour of
kayaking and an hour of
swimming.
Our dinner was served with pretty much the same as what we had for lunch.
Our room for the
night at the boat was a lot better than any of our rooms we've had in guesthouses.
Next day comes, and everybody was wondering what would happen next. Well, everybody ended-up staying on the boat... nobody went to Catba Island. And everybody seemed to be cool with it.
The boat was not running, nobody was doing anything but stare at the horizon, so i dared some of the guys to jump off the boat into the water. The guys accepted, so damn, I had to go in as well.
It was at least a fun way to end a relaxing trip.
When we got back to the port, again came the long wait. It's really painful when you don't know what you're waiting for and how long the wait would be. The guides, no matter where you book your tour pass you around to different people to take care of you. We got transferred to a total of five guides for this trip alone. So when they say "wait", that means you will more likely to meet a new guide.
Another hour had passed and our ride home arrived. On our way back to Hanoi, we had our last free lunch at a vietnamese restaurant, and their last shot on making us spend some more money at another handicraft store.
